Smoleń

State of preservation:		Picturesque ruins
Admission:		The entrance to the ruin area is free
Parking:		At the foot of the castle there is a free parking lot for a few cars
Searching difficulty:		When the trees do not have leaves, the castle is visible from a distance. In the summer it is a little bit more difficult.
Access difficulty:		As to reach the castle, you need to overcome a considerable hill
Subjective rating:		No two ways about it - 5 stars

Driving directions:

Driving down the road no 794 from Wolbrom to Pilica on the way you drive through Smoleń. In the village, on the sharp turn on the right you should drive ahead, into the dirt road. After covering around 50m, on the left side of the road there is a little parking lot and the boards informing that in this place there is a romantic style park. You need to park there and go down the random path ahead, to the forest. On the peak of the hill, which is covered by the forest, stands the castle.


Historical outline:

The castle was described for the first time in a document from 1394. Initially it was called Pilica, and only since the XVIth cent. it has been called Smoleń. It was an ancestral residence of the Toporczyks-Pileckis, which was probably erected by the first documented landlord - Jan from Pilica - in the years of 1341-1347. Till the XVth cent. the castle was Jan's descendants' property the whole time. Later the stronghold came into the Leliwits-Pileckis' hands, and its first owner originating from this family was also Jan from Pilica, while the last one - Jan Pilecki. It was him who in 1570 sold the castle to the Cracovian bishop Filip Padniewski. Then the bishop's nephew - Wojciech Padniewski received the castle, who, however, did not reside in it, and in 1610, in the nearby Pilica built a defensive residence.


Pictures:




Nearest castles:

Mirów

Bobolice (Silesia Province)

Podzamcze

Bydlin

Rabsztyn

Pieskowa Skała